On the way out of my regular shooting area a little while ago, I spotted some sort of little shrike basking in a ray of sunshine in a tree some distance away. Mostly in an effort just to ID the little one, I took a few shots, and a couple more once he turned his back.
Looking at the shots a few minutes ago, the front shots of the white-breasted critter appeared to have a fine border of glare on contrasting edges, making the shot look a bit out of focus. It was exactly the same optical anomaly I’d seen in many of my Cairns shots that were taken in harsh light at around 20 meters or more. I’d blamed those on heat shimmer even though I couldn’t see any shimmer when framing the shots.
And today, with the tree in an area that’s shaded most of the day, and with just a shard of light on my little friend, the cause of the anomaly could not have been heat shimmer. I can only surmise that, as good as this modest piece of optics is, maybe this is a weakness of the lens. It’s not the R7’s AF, because the shot of the back of the bird was focused with critical accuracy (and partially shaded by the time he turned around).
Nitpicking, am I? Of course. But every piece of gear has some sort of imperfection, and it’s good to know so that one can work around it when in the field. And if this is the only thing I can find “off” with this lightweight marvel, I’m sure not going to complain.
